"The Little Mermaid" Hair Interview Behind-the-Scenes
The Secret to Ariel's Hairstyle in "The Little Mermaid" Is Genius
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The colour was still only half of it. "Rob really wanted to make sure that the hair had that dance and that movement he envisioned," says Friend. In water, hair takes on a life of its own, and they wanted to make sure that came across as she swam around. Friend added loose hair in with Bailey's locs to create even more fluidity and give her that mermaid-like look. "Once we doubled [the loose hair] and we put her in the water and all that hair was dancing, we were there."
CGI, visual effects, and the hair department worked hand-in-hand throughout the entire film. " I knew where we were gonna be doing live action, if we were gonna switch into CGI, and then if we were gonna go back into live action," says Friend. "I knew what the cuts were gonna be, and that was a game changer for me." The end result, as Friend describes it, was magical.